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Michael J. Sieler Jr.
Summary
• Microbiome scientist with 5+ years of experience developing and applying high-throughput molecular, computational, and statistical research methods to analyze 1000’s of zebrafish gut microbiome samples
• Research how multiple environmental factors interact with the gut microbiome to influence host health
• Robust data analytic skills in multivariate statistics and machine learning propel research experiments forward and gain data-driven insights
• Demonstrated abilities to collaborate and take leadership in cross-laboratory experiments and extra-curricular projects
• Experienced in written, oral and visual communication across scientific and public audiences
Education
Ph.D. Microbiology, minor in Biological Data Sciences
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon
2020 - estimated 2025
B.Sc. Bioresource Research, options in Bioinformatics and Genomics
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon
2017 - 2020
Work Experience
Owner
MJSieler Consulting
Corvallis, Oregon
May 2022 - Present
Activities: Designed, developed, and deployed educational video game software for clients to fulfill grant requirements for communicating scientific research.
Projects: Virtual Fish
Graduate Research Student
Sharpton Lab (Oregon State University)
Corvallis, Oregon
Sep. 2020 - Present
Activities: Investigate how environmental factors (diet, pollutants, pathogens, etc.) interact with the gut microbiome to influence host health using the zebrafish model organism.
Projects: Impacts of diet & infection, temperature & infection, and chronic antibiotic exposure on gut microbiome
Undergraduate Research Student
Sharpton Lab (Oregon State University)
Corvallis, Oregon
Nov. 2018 - Sep. 2020
Activities: Developed novel gnotobiotic microbiome methods using 1,500+ zebrafish to assess the impact of environmental toxicants on their gut microbiomes and neurophysiological health.
Projects: Benzo[a]pyrene effect on zebrafish gut microbiome
Undergraduate Research Student
Mahmud Laboratory (Oregon State University)
Corvallis, Oregon
Nov. 2017 - Nov. 2018
Activities: Assist PhD students and Post-docs with research projects.
Projects: Discovering novel antibiotics
Research Experience
Measure the effect of nanoplastics on the mouse gut microbial community
Co-authored a paper and contributed a statistical, microbiome analysis on nanoplastic exposure impact on mouse gut microbial communities
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Tools: R, DADA2
Meta-analysis of zebrafish gut microbiomes phylogeny
Co-authored a meta-analysis on environmental exposure impact on zebrafish gut microbiome. Identified, collated, and processed 1000’s of 16S sequences from 8 studies for the meta-analysis.
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Tools: Python, R, DADA2
Developed high-throughput molecular biological and computational pipelines to interrogate gut microbiome
Developed novel, high-throughput gnotobiotic microbiome methods to simultaneously process +1000 zebrafish embryos for microbiome and toxicological research
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Tools: R, DADA2
Measure resilience of gut microbiome to chronic exposure of antibiotics
Exposed 100+ adult zebrafish to varying combinations of antibiotics to assess chronic antibiotic exposure on the gut microbiomes of zebrafish
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Tools: R, DADA2
Assess gut microbiome resiliency to anthropological impacts such as temperature and pathogenic exposure
Exposed 100+ zebrafish to extreme temperatures and parasite exposure to assess anthropological impacts of climage change to the gut microbiomes of zebrafish
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Tools: R, DADA2
Investigate the joint interaction effects of pathogen exposure and diet on gut microbiome succession
Administered 100+ zebrafish one of three commonly used laboratory diets and exposed half to a common pathogen to assess diet-pathogen effect on gut microbiome
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Tools: R, DADA2
Awards (2)
Science Communication Fellow
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
Portland, Oregon
2020 - Present
Recognized for my early significant contributions to scientific research, I was awarded the prestigious ARCS Scholar grant
ARCS Scholar
ARCS Foundation
Corvallis, Oregon
2020 - 2023
Received certified training in informal science education and engagement with public audiences to increase their understanding of STEM research
Certificates (1)
Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp with R
Udemy
N/A
2021
Program with R to wrangle, clean, analyze, and visualize data. Apply advanced statistics and machine learning to gain useful insights.
Oral communications (2)
Zebrafish laboratory diets differentially alter gut microbiota composition
3rd Intl. Fish Microbiota Workshop Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences
Online (Beijing, China)
2021
Effects of diet on growth and the microbiome
Zebrafish Husbandry Workshop
Aquaculture
Online (San Diego, CA)
2022
Poster communications (2)
The Gut Microbiome Drives Benzo[a]pyrene’s Impact on Zebrafish Behavioral Development
CAS Student Showcase Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon
2019
The Gut Microbiome Drives Benzo[a]pyrene’s Impact on Zebrafish Behavioral Development
2nd Intl. Fish Microbiota Workshop University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
2019
Publications (3)
Early Enteric and Hepatic Responses to Ingestion of Polystyrene Nanospheres from Water in C57BL/6 Mice
Joseph A. Szule, Lawrence R. Curtis, Thomas J. Sharpton, Christiane V. L"ohr, Susanne Brander, Stacey Harper, Jamie Pennington, Sara J. Hutton, Michael J. Sieler Jr. and Kristin D. Kasschau
N/A
Jul. 2022
Revealing General Patterns of Microbiomes That Transcend Systems: Potential and Challenges of Deep Transfer Learning
Maude M. David, Christine Tataru, Quintin Pope, Lydia J. Baker, Mary K. English, Hannah E. Epstein, Austin Hammer, Michael Kent, Michael J. Sieler Jr., Ryan S. Mueller, Thomas J. Sharpton, Fiona Tomas, Rebecca Vega Thurber and Xiaoli Z. Fern
N/A
Feb. 2022
Phylogenetic Integration Reveals the Zebrafish Core Microbiome and Its Sensitivity to Environmental Exposures
Thomas J. Sharpton, Keaton Stagaman, Michael J. Sieler Jr., Holly K. Arnold and Edward W. Davis
N/A
Jan. 2021